Since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the EU, UK, US, and other allies have recognized that Russia has been behind a wave of cyber-attacks. The most recent distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on Viasat's commercial communications network in Ukraine, which occurred on the same day that Russia launched its full-fledged invasion, had a greater impact across Europe, disrupting wind farms and internet users. 

The outage on Viasat affected almost one-third of bigblu's 40,000 users throughout Europe, including Germany, France, Hungary, Greece, Italy, and Poland, according to Eutelsat, the parent company of bigblu satellite internet service. The incident impacted wind farms and internet users in central Europe, creating outages for thousands of Ukrainian customers. 

In the regard, the key statements by the West are as follows:

The main aim, according to the joint intelligence advisory, was the Ukrainian military. "Thousands of terminals have been destroyed, rendered useless, and are unable to be restored," according to Viasat. Russian military intelligence was likely certainly engaged in the January 13 attacks on Ukrainian official websites and the distribution of Whispergate harmful malware, according to the UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). 

"This is clear and alarming proof of an intentional and malicious attack by Russia against Ukraine, which had huge ramifications for ordinary people and businesses in Ukraine and across Europe," Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said. 

In the past Russian criminals hijacked the updater system of Ukrainian accounting software provider MEDoc in June 2017, infecting MEDoc users with the wiper virus NotPetya. The evidence suggests that Wiper malware infected several Ukrainian government networks again in 2022, and Gamaredon attacks targeted roughly 5,000 entities, including key infrastructure and government departments.

NCSC director of operations Paul Chichester addressed why the attribution was being done now, two and a half months after the occurrence, at a press conference at CYBERUK 2022. "We execute attributions in a process-driven manner; accuracy is extremely essential to us," he explained. Collaboration with international bodies such as the EU and the Five Eyes adds to the length of time it took to provide this material. 

Such cyber action aims to demoralize the public and degrade essential infrastructure. The perceived difficulties of precisely attributing the attack to any single aggressor is a benefit of conducting the earliest stages of kinetic activity in cyberspace. Putin has been emphatic in his denial of any Russian government participation in the attacks.

A cryptocurrency is a form of digital currency meant to make internet transactions extremely safe. Investors and authorities are paying attention to the unexpected increase in the value of cryptocurrencies. The digital era has surely aided in the advancement of our understanding and use of money. We are also on the verge of a new financial revolution, which is linked to the fourth industrial revolution. There are currently 9,271 distinct cryptocurrencies available, with Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, BNB, and USD being the most renowned ones.  

Cryptocurrencies, despite being older than the iPad, have just entered the public sphere, with their impact being predominantly felt in the last three or four years. The aspect of digital currencies has spread to numerous banks, including JP Morgan and Wells Fargo, which are developing their own cryptos. Blockchain, AI, IoT, and a slew of other technologies are making inroads into our daily lives as more traditional concepts and technologies are scrambling to stay up or risk becoming obsolete. 

Bitcoin, one of the most popular cryptocurrencies, was launched in 2009 and employs peer-to-peer technology to enable rapid transactions without the involvement of institutional bodies such as banks or governments. A password or a private key is required to access the received cryptocurrency in the wallet. Furthermore, the transaction is safeguarded by blockchain technology when it is sent from one wallet to another.

Physical currency serves as a universal measure of worth as well as a quick means of transmitting it. The switch to such a system would very certainly be tough, as cash may become incompatible in the blink of an eye if the crypto world advance at the current pace. Established banking institutions would almost certainly have to hustle to adapt. Governments across the world are now accepting blockchain and cryptocurrency. According to the Gartner report, 83 nations are currently experimenting with or deploying as such Central Bank Digital Currencies, or CBDCs, which account for 90 percent of global GDP. While many businesses initially offered to accept Bitcoin during its first boom, this list has progressively reduced, reinforcing doubt about the cryptocurrency's potential as a medium of trade. 

In India, cryptocurrency boomed relatively late when it already cost millions of rupees, as a result, Indians have few Satoshis (small units of a bitcoin) but this isn't the case in every situation. People are dealing in smaller units such as milli or micro bitcoins as the worth of cryptocurrency. 

Furthermore, the price of a cryptocurrency varies between exchanges, which is a clear breach of the legislation of one price.

While bitcoin performs admirably as a wealth vault, its volatility makes it riskier and exposes it to increased danger of loss. Several variables influence the price of a single bitcoin, like supply and demand, competition, and regulation. Investor perceptions of cryptocurrency are also influenced by recent news events.

The lack of other traits for crypto in India is typically associated with modern physical currencies; they cannot be deposited in a bank and must be held in digital wallets, which are costly and risky due to the possibility of hacking, staff corruption, public IP addresses, and ransomware. In many aspects, government supervision over central currency is essential for regulation, and cryptocurrencies would function with far less government oversight. Bitcoin's supply is set; there is an absolute limit of 21 million units.

In order to maintain steady price levels, the money supply must be able to rise in lockstep with macroeconomic activity, otherwise, the problem can only be solved by raising the velocity of money or by a substantial drop in prices. This might put the economy in jeopardy. 

For investors, bitcoin's artificial scarcity is a benefit: increased demand combined with inelastic supply leads to a greater price. The lack of a central regulator renders investor protection untenable and raises the likelihood of greater instability. People engage in these markets expecting the cryptocurrencies would grow in the future; this presumption fuels speculative behaviours, and a quick shift in the presumption may cause the market to crash, injuring many naive investors. 

The magnitude of economic harm is influenced by the connectivity between crypto-assets and the traditional banking industry. According to economists, direct exposure from cryptocurrencies to the financial system might be transmitted, and indirect repercussions could expand to other asset classes. Crypto assets, according to the RBI financial stability report (2021), offer long-term risks for capital control management, financial and macroeconomic stability, and monetary policy transmission.

China has taken the toughest stance on cryptocurrencies, going from allowing crypto mining to outright prohibiting it as of June 2021. Regulations are divided between the federal and state governments in the United States and India. Most EU draught Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) legislation was announced by the European Commission in September 2020. The UK  is currently supervised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). It's worth noting that the South American nation was the first to declare Bitcoin to be legal cash.

If we look at the evolution of crypto as a currency, it has virtually achieved its goal of decentralisation, and is now one of the main firms such as Tesla, Microsoft, and Meta are investing in it. On the other hand, the emerging cryptocurrency has the issue of being hackable. In the long run, if cryptocurrency continues to develop at its current rate, it may eventually replace fiat currency, resolving the issues of hacking and extreme volatility.

The Serious Organized Crime Threat Assessment study 2021 by Europol summarises the criminal threat from the last four years and offers insights into what can be expected in the following four years. Organized crime isn't just cybercrime, but cybercrime is now a big component of organized crime. Europol sees the development of businesses, growth in the digital lifestyle, and the rise of remote workers as new vulnerabilities and opportunities for use. 

“Critical infrastructures will continue to be targeted by cybercriminals in the coming years, which poses significant risks,” cautions the published report. “Developments such as the expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT), the increased use of artificial intelligence (AI), applications for biometrics data, or the availability of autonomous vehicles will have a significant impact. These innovations will create criminal opportunities.” 

The interruption of Emotet Botnet in January 2021, with foreign activities organized by Europol, is highlighted in the report. This includes the international efforts concerning the authorities of the Netherlands, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Lithuania, Canada, and Ukraine. But the overall thought is that cybercrime is growing in sophisticated ways with criminal gangs being increasingly organized due to which the threat is multiplying at a fast rate. However, the Europol report does not comment on the usual cyber threats, apart from the fact that crime syndicates sell it 'as a service more and more. 

ENISA estimates that 230,000 new malware variants are detected each day. Europol shows that the number and sophistication of attacks continue to increase. “The increase in the number of attacks on public institutions and large companies is particularly notable.” Further, the DDoS - Denial of service is an expanding threat, frequently followed by attempts at extortion. Attacks on government and vital resources continue, but criminal groups with lower security protocols increasingly target smaller organizations. 

“Last year saw a multitude of damaging consequences from ransomware, breaches, and targeted attacks against sensitive data,” comments Yaniv Bar-Dayan, CEO and co-founder at Vulcan Cyber. Cyber attackers have taken full advantage of the much more critical vulnerabilities at the detriment of the organizations, ranging from hacks of COVID-19 study data to assaults on critical networks and government agencies. The increase in online child exploits, especially what is recognized as the live distance violence, also occurred as students experienced months at home during school closures. Besides, Europol states that it has a database of over 40 million pictures from around the globe of child sexual abuse. 

Furthermore, there shouldn’t be an underestimation of the involvement of the Dark Web in illegal activities, where criminals use it to share their knowledge on operating security. The usage of the dark web for the selling of illicit drugs and weapons has increased over the past four years, but law enforcement has seemed to have caused some mistrust among consumers and might have cooled down the growth rate in association with online assaults. Sex trafficking (THB) is also carried out on the dark web and surface web pages where labor and sex are the main categories. Europol claims that THB is substantially underreported and states that in the EU, THB is on the rise for labor exploitation. 

Even the complexity of technology has increased with the inception of fraud such as investment fraud, BEC, non-deployment fraud, novelty fraud, fake invoice fraud, social profit fraud, bank fraud, etc. This will probably go on. Also “The use of deep fakes will make it much more challenging to identify and counter fraud,” warns Europol. And the organized crime ecosystem is marked by a networked environment with smooth, systemic, and profitable coordination among criminals.

Threat actor "Hafnium" is highly skilled and sophisticated, says Microsoft. Hafnium has earlier attacked companies based in the US that include cybersecurity firms, law firms, defense contractors, think tanks, defense agencies, NGOs, and universities. The EBA (EU Banking Authority) said in a statement that the inquiries have not revealed any data theft as of now. Presently, the EBA e-mail infrastructure is safe and the investigation concludes that there has been no data breach, says the statement. 

There's no evidence to suggest that the breach affected anything more than email servers.  The company says that the investigation is still in process and security measures have been set up to restore the functionality of e-mails. EBA in a statement issued on Sunday said that it had shut down its systems as a preventive measure, observing that hackers may have got access to personal data in the emails. The company has issued updates to fix the security issues. It is very much likely that the hackers may want to take the advantage of the unpatched systems, says Tom Burt, Microsoft executive. 

In this regard, Security Week reported, "Beijing typically rejects US hacking charges out of hand and last year berated Washington following allegations that Chinese hackers were attempting to steal coronavirus research. In January, the US said Russia was probably behind the massive SolarWinds hack that hit large swathes of the government and private sectors, and which experts say may constitute an ongoing threat."  

The Czech Republic's intelligence agency recently revealed that Russian and Chinese spies posed an up and coming threat to the EU member's security and other key interests the previous year. 

The annual report of the Security Data Administration (BIS) said the intelligence services of Russia and China took up a rather significant role in further advancing their interests and options abroad.

All Russian intelligence services were rather active on Czech territory in 2019. Spies with a strategic and diplomatic cover zeroed in on further advancing Russia's interests and the Kremlin's views, just as boosting Russia's reputation in the Czech Republic. 

"The key difference is that Russia seeks to destabilise and disintegrate its opponents, while China is trying to build a Sinocentric global community wherein other nations acknowledge the legitimacy of China's interests," BIS said. 

The Chinese spies’ agents utilized covers as diplomats, journalists, or scientists and "utilized the receptiveness of the Czech environment to the offer of Chinese investment," BIS said. 

They focused on the tech area, the military, security, infrastructure, the health sector, the economy, and environmental protection and searched for ways to paint a positive portrait of China. 

BIS added that the foreign spies additionally focused on Czech cyberspace with attacks focused on the foreign ministry and diplomatic missions abroad, yet additionally the infrastructure of Czech anti-virus software maker Avast.

It said Russian and Chinese services were behind these attacks, adding that phishing and spear-phishing emails were the most frequently utilized tactic.

The EU (Europian Union) is considering restricting the use of facial recognition technology for a possible duration of 5 years, in public area sectors. The reason being is the regulators need some time to consider the protection of unethical exploitation of the technique. The facial recognition is a technique that lets to identify faces that are captured on camera footage to be crosschecked against real-time watchlists, mostly collected by the police.


However, the restrictions for the use are not absolute as the technique can still be used for research and development, and safety purposes. The committee formulating the restriction drafted an 18-page document, which implicates the protection of privacy and security of an individual from the abuse of the facial recognition technique. The new rules are likely to strengthen the security measures further against the exploitation. The EU suggested forcing responsibilities on either party, the developers, and the users of AI (artificial intelligence) and requested member countries of the EU to build an administration to observe the recent laws.

Throughout the ban duration that is 3-5 years, "a solid measure for evaluating the repercussions of facial recognition and plausible security check means can be discovered and applied." The recommendations appear among requests from lawmakers and activists in the United Kingdom to prevent the police from unethical abuse of the AI technique that uses live facial recognition technology for purposes of monitoring the public. Not too late, the Kings Cross estate got into trouble after a revelation that its owners were using facial recognition without the public knowing about it.

The politicians allege that facial recognition is fallacious, interfering, and violates the basic human right of privacy. According to a recent study, the algorithms that facial recognition uses are not only incorrect but are also flawed in identifying the black and Asian faces in comparison to those of the whites.

How Facial Recognition works?

• The faces stored in a police photo database are mapped using the software.
• CCTV present at public places identifies the faces. 
• Possible matches are compared and then sent to the police. 
• However, pictures of inaccurate matches are stored for weeks.